And so, another day passed in my boring life. I sat down at my computer, turned it on, waited a bit for it to boot up, and entered my favorite game, FTL: Beyond. It is a game where the player has immense freedom, a game of intergalactic wars where every planet is different, and every single NPC is unique, thanks to rudimentary AI tech. In my free time, I liked to read novels on my favorite unnamed website. I usually spent my time doing one of these things.

As the game finally booted, I heard a shout from downstairs, "NOVA! Go and buy milk; we ran out." "Coming!" I shouted back. As I did, I pressed Alt+F4, ran downstairs, got dressed, and asked again, "What do I need to buy?" "Milk, you fucking imbecile!" I grabbed my wallet and walked outside. It was quite late, but I knew the shop closes at midnight, so I had about an hour to walk one and a half kilometers. On my way there, I enjoyed the empty streets and the quietness of the city.

I got to the shop, went in, got the milk, and went to pay for it when suddenly, a man with a mask walked in and screamed, "Everyone, hands in the air, or I'll shoot!" He ran up to the cash register and ordered the cashier to open it. There were only three people in the shop: me, the cashier, and the robber. That's when he noticed me not holding my hands up and pointed his gun at me. He started to scream something about shooting me, but I just ignored him and retorted, "Stop being a pussy and shoot me already." He shot next to me. I didn't flinch, as honestly, I didn't care anymore if I died or lived. So what's the point of being scared? I contemplated killing myself many times but never got the chance to do so because my adoptive mother always was complaining about something, never giving me free time, and also beating me when she was drunk. So, I couldn't care less if I got shot. Worst case scenario, there was a note in my inner pocket about all she had done to me, as well as the pictures as proof. So if I die, she will get put behind bars as a last frick you from me to her.

The robber, seeing that his shooting didn't trigger a reaction, became scared and ran out of the store. The cashier gave me the milk for free, and so I started to walk home. It started raining, but it wasn't as bad as I had a hoodie. I had almost gotten home; the pedestrian light turned green. I looked both ways to be sure and started walking, only to hear the well-known screech of a truck engine. I turned to look at it. I wasn't surprised, well, I wasn't surprised by the truck, but I was surprised because it had no driver. I put in a meager effort to dodge unsuccessfully, and as a result, I could hear the sound of my bones cracking under the force of the collision. I got launched a few tens of meters, only to land in front of my house's driveway. I felt my mind fading, putting every last effort to pull my hand into a middle finger towards my house, where I saw my adopted mother looking at me through the window. She didn't seem to care, only seeming slightly insulted by the hand sign I was showing, and so everything turned dark.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

I floated in this state for some time; I don't know how long. But at some point, a golden ball appeared in front of me. I touched it, a weird feeling came over me, as if I was on fire but I felt no pain. As this feeling slowly vanished, I saw letters in the corner of my vision showing "LOADING... 39%". The percentage slowly climbed to 100, and once it reached one hundred percent, a text board appeared in front of me.

"You have died and are set to be reborn as a dungeon operating unit, A9u7KXX4. The world contains a unique energy unit, and your job is to condense energy and use it to expand. Once the unit's domain covers the local area, your job will update, and a reward shall be given."

As I finished reading, my field of view expanded to cover everything around me. It was quite weird to be able to see every part of yourself from a third-person view while also seeing 360 degrees around yourself, all at the same time. After some more time, I found a planet in the distance, and it was getting larger every moment that passed. Well, actually, I was moving towards the planet at quite an alarming rate. That's when I noticed that my body started to become liquid and slowly formed into a ball. I didn't feel any pain or anything, but after this process was finished, my body had transformed into a black onyx gemstone.

I soon after entered the atmosphere of the planet. I could see a beautiful sight of gigantic forests and giant mountains. I also saw some towns as well as one big city at the very far edge of what I could see. I crashed into the planet, but instead of an explosion, my body seemed to cut through the motion side and leave a hole the size of my gemstone, no larger than 30 centimeters in diameter. Some time later, I came to a stop, and my vision went blank, only showing a text box.

"Beginning the root establishing in realm... complete.

Updating system, establishing backup... complete.

Claiming initial domain... complete.

Rebooting dungeon operating unit A9u7KXX4..."